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Star Struck korean drama review
Completed
Star Struck
2 people found this review helpful
by Zii3 Finger Heart Award1
Oct 25, 2023
8 of 8 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 7.0
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 6.0
Rewatch Value 5.0
This review may contain spoilers

So Much Potential But Super Rushed Last 2 Episodes.

General spoilers. Eight 16-20 min episodes. The first 6 episodes completely drew me in and tugged hard at my heartstrings. I was fascinated to see how things would unfold. It perfectly explored pining and unrequited love. What this did differently, and what I found special, was that it also explored how a friendship could be effected by this from BOTH points of view. In addition to that, it realistically portrayed how struggles with family and money can effect kids and sometimes strain their interactions with even their closest friends. (The kids in this case are seniors in high school.)

The last 2 episodes were rushed, introduced more plot than it had time for, and took the focus away from the evolving connection between the lead characters. It was slice-of-life and following the interactions and emotions between the two friends so I expected that to continue. Instead, the story started to jump large spans of time in episode 7. We go from not knowing how things will actually work out romantically to being 62 days into their dating, and then 100 days.

The ending was happy but unsatisfying because we didn't get to see/experience Jo Yoo Jae's emotions progress into romance. I couldn't help thinking the character might have decided to date Seo Han Joon just to keep him in his life. Which I don't think is the intended message, but the script and editing didn't really give us examples of it being much more than that. Episodes 7 & 8 showed us romantic milestones but didn't actually show the characters being romantic with each other.

The acting was very good. Especially Kim In Sung who conveyed so much through his face, eyes, and voice. Very natural, a lot of micro facial expressions, and captivating.

I would have been fine with the one lead-up to a kiss and not getting more if the script, directing, and editing had shown examples of them being sweet with each other. Even just staring into each others eyes and smiling. Something! Their physical interactions didn't change at all once dating. We especially needed to see something from Yoo Jae to believe his feelings had grown past platonic affection.

I would easily watch the first 6 episodes again so I'm really disappointed with what they did with the last 2 episodes. Feeling this unsatisfied by the end brought my rating from a potential 9 down to a 7.

Nothing remarkable or distracting about music or cinematography.
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